Reviving Maintenance: From Obsolescence to Sustainable Excellence

In the early 1990s, the traditional plant maintenance department vanished as companies shifted toward lean, cost‑focused operations. Experienced planners, maintenance engineers, and support staff—who once championed preventive maintenance—were laid off, leaving a void that has never been fully filled.

The Mission of Modern Maintenance

What should maintenance truly deliver? Historically, answers ranged from rapid fault resolution to cost control, quality, safety, or environmental stewardship. While each focus has merit, they all ignored a fundamental shift: the corporate culture that now demands speed, agility, and relentless efficiency.

The new mission is clear: Provide outstanding customer support by reducing—and ultimately eliminating—the need for routine maintenance services.

Redefining Roles and Processes

To achieve this, maintenance must blend with machine and tooling design, embedding maintainability into the earliest stages of product development. Designers and maintainers should rotate roles, ensuring that field experience directly informs design decisions.

Routine maintenance should also be integrated into daily operations. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) demonstrates that operators, when properly trained, can execute preventive tasks, freeing dedicated maintenance teams to focus on higher‑value work.

Choosing the Right Organizational Structure

Traditional hierarchies no longer suffice. Many leading companies now adopt matrix, network, or even virtual structures—assembled on an as‑needed basis with external experts. This lean approach reduces dependence on physical facilities and aligns teams directly with value‑creating activities.

Embracing a Value‑Based Culture

The modern organization demands that every employee adds measurable value. People are interchangeable; outsourcing is a strategic option. If a cost‑cutting executive is presented with a proposal to expand preventive maintenance, the likely response will be skepticism—highlighting the need to reframe maintenance as a core enabler, not a cost center.

Breakdowns Are a Sign of System Failure

Accepting breakdowns as normal is a relic of the past. A machine that requires frequent intervention signals a flaw in design, use, or operation. Maintenance should aim to eliminate these failures, not merely respond to them.

Positioning PM and Predictive Analytics

Predictive technologies—infrared inspection, vibration analysis, and other condition‑monitoring tools—are valuable, but they are not substitutes for sound engineering. PM consumes labor and materials without addressing root causes. When PM teams are downsized, reliability inevitably reverts to previous levels.

Nonetheless, PM remains essential for high‑risk or costly equipment. Treat it as a stepping stone toward maintenance elimination: use it to stabilize operations while engineering solutions that reduce or remove the need for ongoing intervention.

Case Study: Air Cylinder Optimization

1. Initial MTBF was only one year in a harsh environment, with each seal replacement costing $30 plus labor and downtime.
2. A weekly cleaning and inspection PM program doubled MTBF to two years, though it required dedicated staff.
3. At a trade show, a new seal kit costing $85 proved durable for over five years without any PM program. Phasing it in eliminated routine maintenance, increased reliability, and restored production efficiency.

Each improvement reduces labor requirements and boosts service levels. Maintenance teams that adopt this mindset help their organizations thrive in a competitive, resource‑conscious world.

About the Author

Joel Levitt is a renowned trainer of maintenance professionals, having led more than 500 sessions for over 10,000 leaders across 3,000 organizations in 20 countries. As president of Springfield Resources since 1980, he advises clients of all sizes on a wide range of maintenance challenges. With nearly 25 years of hands‑on experience—from process control design to field service—Levitt brings unmatched expertise. Learn more at www.maintrainer.com or call 800‑242‑5656.